The Smuggling Operation
Sitemap ---------------------------------------------------- ' Fontaine's Fishing and Smuggling Operation' ---------------------------------------------------- * See also Smugglers Hideout * See also Smugglers_Den_MP --- --- --- --- --- How did Fontaine Run His Smuggling Operation ? ' : Premium value high-priced items was required for the operation to get sufficient profits, to allow Fontaine eventually to afford to hire the likes of Tenenbaum/Suchong and pay for tech/business research. Rich people will pay for exclusivity - but only so much, and there are only so many (few) of THEM in Rapture. But what was traded to the Surface to obtain the Contraband ? -- As the Smuggling had major expenses/inefficiencies, and the operation was hamstrung/impaired by its covert nature. Rapture's Money is worthless on the Surface, so objects of value would have to be sold (fenced) probably at a fraction of their real value (thus yet more difficulty/complications). --- --- --- '''Stacks of Contraband : ' Why would Fontaine smuggle this stuff in, IF there was no immediate buyer for it ? The difficulties/expense of smuggling goods would make anything smuggled-in have a Premium Price. Crosses could be made locally, literally tons of Bibles and newspapers (which can be shared and aren't consumed) - and all (we saw) there '''were never delivered ? Overused game Assets to make some point ? - Perhaps. You see Booze stolen from Rapture Port Authority (that path supposedly being shutdown in 1952 ??? - So why is it still here ? As booze seems to sell pretty well in Rapture). All the 'Seized' boxes elsewhere (including 8 years later at Fontaine Futuristics) - Probably not any contraband goodies in them OR they would certainly have be pilfered long past (Wouldn't you think ???). --- --- --- Smuggling Is Fun (No Its Not, It Is Difficult) : 200 miles to nearest land (Iceland) 20 hours at 10 mph ( a typical small sub speed ON SURFACE), and that is just ONE WAY. To East Coast ports is more than 3000 miles. SO A network of surface boats obviously would be involved for anything that could possibly pay expenses of its own operation (let alone to make a profit). Ryan also might have agents sniffing around at likely surface world ports, making the operation even more inefficient --- --- --- Neptunes Bounty (Port Neptune) : * Home to a fleet of dozens of fishing submarines, many which had sufficient range to reach significant distances from Rapture to chase and catch large quantities of fish. * Large Airlocks (Sea Locks) allowed subs to enter and match pressure with Rapture's one Atmosphere environment. * A 'ship' tunnel (half water filled) connects the Sea Locks to various Docks (which were built as a shallow simulated 'fake' waterfront) and facilities (for Refueling and Repair) around Port Neptune. * Fish were transferred to holding pens/tanks to wait for processing and storage. * Other commercial operations were also located nearby (Sinclair Scrap, a Seaweed Processing Company, etc..) * Neptune's Bounty (originally having many smaller fishing companies) was eventually completely controlled by Fontaine (via criminal coercion and/or cheaply buying out of competitors and taking them over). ** Later control (after Fontaine's "death" fell to the City which would appoint 'trustees' to run the companies to continue providing important food to the City. ' The Fishery Submarines Used for Smuggling :' * Fishing Subs were constantly coming and going from Port Neptune, which made the subs involved in the smuggling hard to trace. * Subs met the smuggler boats at a distance from Rapture to avoid the monitoring stations at the Lighthouse. * "Fontaine's Mini-sub ... allegedly topside twice a week" -- Problem is : it had not enough capacity for the quantities of smuggled goods we saw alluded to in BS1. The (my) larger (a realistic design extrapolated) 'Fishing Subs' were used in the expanded operation, and could go meet the periodic arrival of a hired freighter, and carry down the Contraband loads quickly (and let the freighter slip away before Ryan's patrols noticed it). ' Smugglers Hideout/Cave :' * If you look at Smugglers Hideout in BS1 you will see alot of infrastructure was 'secretly' constructed to facilitate the major smuggling operation (making it kind of HARD to justify why Ryan's men couldn't find this place long before Fontaine got his Splicer Army). * An unmarked/obscured side passage off the Neptunes Bounty 'ship' tunnel, led to a secret submarine dock where untold tons of contraband were transferred. * The caverns had sufficient Storage space for large quantities of smuggled goods that would be gradually sold on to the black market. The smugglers also stole large quantities of alcohol from the Rapture Port Authority(????). Stolen goods were also warehoused for later distribution. * Funny thing was : Seeing a Pneumo box in the Hideout. That the smuggling operation was so well organized, that they even had Pneumo access for their 'convenience'. This also demonstrated the things that Fontaine could get done either with bribes or threats. ' The Operation :' * What would the external smugglers (the eventual source on The Surface) get in return ?? What would THEY be interested in ??? Gold and other 'valuables' produced by Fontaine's other criminal activities ???? Those would eventually run out for any significant trading. What other 'stuff' did Fontaine trade with the surface ? Did his labs also produce powerful 'recreational' drugs to be traded for ? * Because of the complication of the smuggling operation, Fontaine would have eventually used his own men ("cut out the middleman"...) in the Surface boats (possibly THAT original Fishing Fleet he stole) to obtain the smuggled goods wholesale (and he STILL would have to use something valuable to buy that Contraband with) or obtain some via robberies and pirating. * Coercion (including murder) was used to maintain secrecy by Fontaine, as well as to hold workers in thrall for low pay (SEE THE AUDIO DIARY BELOW). ' The 'Secret Tram' to Arcadia :' * Smugglers Hideout is nowhere near Arcadia (according to the Austen Bathysphere map), though in BS1 you walk thru a tunnel and you are there. * Thus Fontaine built and used a mile long utility tram tunnel to transport contraband direct to Arcadia - a good central location in Rapture and which offered nice secluded spots for clandestine transactions for smuggled goods. * A small 'lost' tunnel-boring machine was used to construct the passage thru the bedrock between Smugglers Hideout and Arcadia. The tunnel was laid with the standard prefabricated tram track to make the transport task easy. The electric 'locomotives' and cars (also stolen) would make transporting the huge amounts of Black Market goods very simple. * Proximity to Farmers Market and the adjacent farming establishments allowed many goods to be concealed and 'mixed in'. * In the MMORPG New Rapture situation, the 'secret' tunnel is still there and is being repaired/upgraded to facilitate movement of farm produce from the Arcadia/Ceres Green area to New Rapture. ' The Shoot Out Neptune's_Bounty_Shootout:' * Ryan's security men repeated attempted to try to catch Fontaine's smugglers committing their crime, but had no success because of bribery of the City's Constables and unwillingness (or deaths) of potential witnesses. * Ryan's security raided Fontaine's operations (tipped by Peach Wilkins?) to prove the smuggling, but Fontaine was tipped off, and a major battle erupted where Ryan's forces faced large numbers of Splicers. * Fontaine faked his death with a 'look-alike' dressed in his clothing and accessories, and made sure the face/body was obliterated/burned beyond recognition. * Ryan had the City seize control of the Fisheries (as well as Fontaine Futuristics and other companies Fontaine had controlled) and discovered and shut down the Smugglers Hideout operation. * Ryan attempted to use the violent incidents at Smugglers Hideout and Fontaine's illegal operation as proof of the threat and his 'protecting Rapture' from the Surface. Unfortunately the strong measures needed (and rather odd decisions by Ryan) gave ammunition to the newly emerged Atlas's propaganda. The Kashmir Incident then later brought 'Civil War' to Rapture. * By the time of Jack's arrival, Fontaine's lack of resources (and dwindling ADAM supplies) were crippling his forces and Ryan had gained the upper-hand after building a Splicer army of his own. Once the Pheromone Control was working, Fontaine/Atlas had few allies left and was basically in hiding. --- --- --- . . . . . . . ' The NEW Smugglers Hideout (Atlas/Fontaine's Second Smuggling Site) :' * When he was planning his change of identity, when Ryan was closing in on his Smuggling operation, Fontaine not only arranged his fake death but also created a replacement smuggling operation elsewhere (if he already hadn't had it). He likely transplanted the best half of his smuggling submarines/equipment, as well as the more valuable/useful contraband. Arms and supplies would be cached for his 'Atlas' operation. * The new (and very similar operation) would have been run with hidden connections to Atlas's base of operations (Hestia/Apollo Square area). * Likely the 'secret' Submarine Dock would have been built to keep the smuggling operation going. No longer near the Fishing Fleet operations, some other ruse would be needed to escape detection. * Another (inside) transfer tunnel would be prebuilt - maybe a network of them, which would also double to safely move Atlas's forces around despite Ryan's drastically increased security measures. Likely there would be many connection to 'out of view' points in the 'undercity'/Sewers allowing Atlas to suddenly appear somewhere and then conveniently escape. * Atlas would use his transplanted (new) smuggler operation to bring in weapons, supplies and ammunition to facilitate his 'revolution'. Some of the supplies were used as bribes to convince Rapture's underclass to side with Atlas (and many to join his 'army'). * With dwindling resources, Atlas probably had less and less 'loot' to pawn on the Surface, and likely would have relied more and more on outright piracy/robbery to gain supplies (These were even riskier actions). * In The MMORPG, A bunch of Fontaine's henchmen continued to use this facility after his demise, and continued supporting themselves by pirating surface ships and extorting other factions (being paid to not interfere with fishing operations). They were another faction that Lamb failed to control. New Rapture is trying to end this group's depredations, particularly because of the outside (Surface World) attention their activities continue to bring towards Rapture. --- --- --- Fontaine's Smuggling Ring's Demise ''' : '''Did The Arrests made at Neptunes Bounty (after the 'Shootout') 'Break the Back' Of Fontaine's Smuggling Operation ? : Depending on how much the Novel is taken as Canon - it mentions that previously Ryan's law enforcers really couldn't get any solid evidence on Fontaine, so Ryan couldn't really do anything. They kept losing any witnesses they needed for the case ('The Council' would hear the prosecution case ?? So there HAD to be courts of some kind.) We see this in the actual game with "You don't fuck Fontaine, He fucks you" said by his employees Ghost Vision (in Smuggler's Hideout) : "Ghost #1: You can't quit, Fontaine will find you. Ghost #2: Hey, fuck Fontaine. Ghost #1: You don't fuck Fontaine, Fontaine fucks you!" or when Sullivan (?) torturing a guy for evidence/information Audio Diary : Timmy H. Interrogation , he says : What the cops are doing to him is nothing compared to what Fontaine will do to him if he squeals ... Only when Fontaine was 'dead' and his smuggling den was discovered was THAT smuggling operation finished. (Was it ever??? By Ryan's security guys ?? -- Remember Ryan allegedly sends Splicers when YOU get there ... Maybe Ryan was using YOU as a bird-dog to discover its location ???) This is not to say there weren't several other operations in Rapture, or that Fontaine pre-positioned his Second smuggling 'Operation' elsewhere to be resumed on his 'death' -- to bring in goodies for 'Atlas' (as long as there was something to buy the Contraband with. Remember there's 'overhead' costs in Smuggling, so it isn't cheap.) IDEA -- MMORPG Flashback (interactive..) where Atlas/other 'smugglers' are attacking and STEALING contraband from the Surface - some Splicer goodness of them terrorizing small port towns. --- --- --- Audio Diary - "Putting_the_Screws_On" ''' : Peach Wilkins : "Fontaine's putting the screws on us, and double. He's squeezing us out of 80 points of our cut with the threat of turning us in to Ryan if we don't play ball. Son of a bitch. Sammy G. comes and tells me he's thinking of going to the constable, and the next day, Sammy G. was found in a sack in the salt pond. We got no choice here. We stay on Fontaine's crew, and we're gonna catch the gallows. We take a powder, and we end up like Sammy G. There's gotta be another way ... " Hints how Fontaine was finally 'fingered' (informant went to the Rapture Authorities to incriminate Fontaine with evidence of Smuggling) which led to the Neptune's Bounty Shootout, and Fontaine's alleged demise. --- --- --- '''So you (Fontaine) are Gonna Smuggle Beef Into Rapture ? How large a freezing compartment do you have in your fishing sub ? (Ones better/bigger than the teeny subs seen in-game - at Smugglers Hideout ... would have to be to have any range to go hundreds/thousand of miles and back) It takes a week to transport(Smuggle) Contraband from any topside source, so you (the buyer) WILL be getting Freezer Burnt meat anyway. This is discounting 'Beef' grown in Rapture, which could be a viable possibility (I doubt Ryan would have expected Rapture to have to eat Fish Kelp Salami and fruits forever.) Rapture grown Beef probably will still be expensive (the quantities of grass/grain and such to feed them costs, as does time. Fresh chicken (much faster growing with less feed required per pound of edible meat) would be much more common - AS IT IS in our world. Rabbits, ditto. So Beef Smuggling - not so much (no profit). --- --- --- Smuggling (Realities Strike Again) : A bit too much of a contrived story : How ALL the stuff Fontaine was allegedly smuggling could never seem to ever be noticed by the Authorities (it WAS seriously illegal), and for so long. This couldn't be just a little a package (of Contraband) being delivered each trip by a Fishing Sub. Lots of people knew about the Smuggling (Fontaine had to sell the stuff to many people), and THEY had to supply the CASH/Whatever it is he traded to the Surface/Outsiders as required to buy/get the stuff/contraband (even if some was only legally BUYING it at nearby ports on The Surface). Money/whatever has to Flow out of Rapture in exchange. Because it is smuggling with added complications, the good are now further expensive/priced at a PREMIUM. (('' Note - They don't accept Rapture dollars OUTSIDE of Rapture, unless it was made of precious metals. A major drain (the scale of the alleged smuggling) on Rapture's money supply WOULD eventually be noticed. )) It sounded like this stuff wasn't just Canned Sardines and the Local Hooch from some small Icelandic fishing village. That meant bringing alot of it from a distance (more than the ~300 miles to the shore of Iceland). The AMOUNT of Contraband smuggled had to be enough to raise Fontaine all that Rapture money (they portrayed him as getting) to afford that whole later ADAM industry setup (and you have to develop that product BEFORE you earn dollar one back). The transport/transfer into Rapture is a significant expense. Sure you can use the fishing subs which either have to go a great distance (instead of fishing), OR make a delivery boat rendezvous -- and THOSE added parts of the Smuggling Operation have to be paid for now instead. Sorry, Its just the Simple Realities of Non-Fantasy/Non-Magic/Non-Wave of the Hand business and economics. So the upshoot of all this is either : Fontaine WASN'T as ridiculously 'rich' as he is shown (taken even further in the BaSx DLC), OR there had to be more involved for him to get sufficient funds to start that ADAM Genetic Business (more thuggery and criminal activities -- which have their OWN reality checks - as in the size of Rapture limiting THAT). --- --- --- '''Various Stacks of Contraband Seen in BS1 ' : Why would Fontaine smuggle this stuff IF there was no buyer for it ? The difficulties/expense of smuggling goods would make anything desirable have a premium price. Crosses/Crucifixes could be made locally, literally tons of Bibles and newspapers (which can be shared, passed hand to hand/copied and are NOT consumed) - and a whole lot of them are seen never delivered (as seen in BS1). Is it simply Overused Asset Objects, by the writers, to make some clumsy point? Booze stolen from the 'Rapture Port Authority' (that legal import path supposedly shutdown in 1952 - so why is the Booze still here MANY years later -- as booze seems to sell pretty well in Rapture). All the 'Seized' boxes seen elsewhere (including 8 years later at Fontaine Futuristics in BS2) - probably not any tasty/useful contraband goodies would be left -- those would have been pilfered long past. Likewise many stacks of The Daily Post are in "Room 5" of Fighting McDonaghs, piled with boxes of contraband, also apparently unsold. (Newsprint paper is heavy (to smuggle), and likewise gets handed around once read). The items selected of this Contraband type were not the best thought out. --- --- --- To The Surface and Back - A Smugglers Tale : Fontaine could have smuggled people out of Rapture without too much trouble considered the number of trips his subs made and amount of goods he was obtaining (and the bulk goods had to be obtained from Surface locations). Rich people could pay him sufficiently with valuable assets in Rapture, and maybe use some up on the Surface which they still possessed (communications to arrange this would be easy to get to Surface contacts). Perhaps he took their money and they just disappeared (he killed them - like so many border smugglers do) -- Particularly IF his larger plans might have been endangered by people getting out and spreading knowledge about Rapture's existence. External (Surface) resources might also have assisted Fontaine's smuggling, as something had to be used to purchase the goods smuggled in. Ships are required to transport the cargoes 'part (most?) of the way' ... Rapture's Technology might have been something Fontaine sold on the Surface (to raise CASH for his plans). Fontaine obviously smuggled Jack out (full grown by then ?), and stashed him somewhere until it was time to bring him back (that demonstrates some Surface operation existing). The 'Ace in the Hole' plot was arranged long before the Neptune's Bounty shootout, and the plane hijacking was a rather risky method of bringing Jack back to Rapture. A boat or even one of the smuggling subs might have been originally planned, but perhaps Atlas's resources were severely dwindled by Ryan's actions. Of course, hijacking a plane, flying it to specific coordinates(somehow having the required training to do so), crashlanding precisely without killing oneself (and no one else conveniently surviving) is a bit of a stretch. Alternate ways might've been done more believably, with the same result (except for the 'scene', but then some other 'scene' probably could have been contrived just as well). - Interesting issue : Were there other survivors of the crash, and WHERE are they ? OR what did Jack do to them? Not quite so nice to have Jack been even more of a cold-blooded killer, BEFORE we became him ... --- --- --- If there was a Booker P.I. (in Rapture) Would he Have Tried Proving Fontaine's Smuggling ??? : A logical method under Libertarianism/pseudo-Objectivism would be for the City to offer a general Bounty for information leading to the arrest of Smugglers (and more pay the bigger the exposed operation was). Anonymous tips can often be useful (and thwart Fontaine's thuggish coercion) -- it just takes one good tip-off. So would Booker (allegedly a tough guy), have worked an investigation from the 'unofficial' side (versus Sullivan and the Constables). Fontaine murdered potential witnesses and coerced a 'closed mouth' from his employees. And Fontaine's many customers didn't want their profits eaten into (even the Kashmir club bought contraband ...). Ryan followed the common law and couldn't "go after" Fontaine unless he had sufficient proof. So was this proof eventually found, and was it someone like Booker P.I. who accomplished it (or made it possible)? Might it have been logical in Rapture to have a good-sized reward offered for evidence of Smuggling (leading to the arrest of the criminals involved...) ? Its also possible that Booker PI was employed by Fontaine to frame his competition and to search oput and 'nullify' informers. --- --- --- 'Film Reels' are supposedly of what significance ??? (I guess they couldn't be "crucifixes" in those piles of Contraband). I haven't ascertained whether you get to 'view' them (reels) to see some *NEVER BEFORE SEEN* something or other. --- --- --- --- --- . .